CS2: Truck & Tractor

You are working on a microcredit project in a rural community, setting up initiatives to improve quality of life based on the needs identified by the community. The community you work in is predominantly agricultural and their primary source of income is generated by selling the crops and cheeses they produce to the nearest town, more than an hour away by car. At the end of your project, there is money left over in your budget dedicated to the community. The community representatives you have been working with suggest that the community would like to use the money to buy a tractor to improve efficiency and ease the manual labour burden on the community.

What are some things that need to be considered before purchasing the tractor?

Feminist thought appreciates consultation with the community and recognizes its choices. Feminism encourages collaborative decision making and evaluation of the outcomes of the decision. In this case, feminism dictates that you buy that tractor if it is based on the community consensus. Some questions to consider:

Who is making the decision to have the tractor?

Does the decision-making process involve everyone in the community?

Who is going to benefit from this tractor?

2. Autonomy

When autonomy is held as the most important consideration, the preferences of the community are respected. In this case, it would mean giving the community representatives money to buy the tractor without considering anything else. There are no other considerations to be made because autonomy holds that community members know what is best for themselves. Some questions to consider:

Whose opinions should hold the most weight when making a decision like this? Those who fund the project or those whom it is designed to help?

Will the community have enough resources to purchase fuel, oil, parts and maintenance for the truck?

Is this a short-term solution with poor long-term considerations?

3. Ethics of Care

The ethics of care dictates that you should consider all possible positive and negative impacts of your decision when working especially with those who can become vulnerable to our decisions. In affording extra consideration you would have to weigh the benefits of having a new tractor against the possible negative implications of not being able to maintain it. Some questions to consider:

Should you discuss the issue of maintaining a short term benefit with the community?

Why would it be important to consider whether the community would have enough resources to maintain the tractor after buying it?

How might your decision render the community more (or less) vulnerable?

A few days later, respected community elders approach you, saying that they were surprised to find out that this decision had been made without a large portion of the community and that they were insulted. They express to you that the community is not interested in changing their traditional farming practices and would rather have a truck to transport their agricultural goods to the market in town. How do you smooth relations between your group and the community? How do you balance your responsibilities to the community and your obligations to spend the money ethically?

Feminism prioritizes inclusion of all parties in the decision-making and values consultation. A feminist point of view encourages community members to come together for a discussion and reflection while also understanding the role of the volunteer and its limitations. Some questions to consider:

How does the exclusion of the elders from the decision-making affect the allocation of funds?

Is equal power sharing a culturally acceptable decision-making process?

By only consulting those involved with your project, did you change the power dynamics?

2. Autonomy

As more information is gathered it becomes clear that it will be difficult to respect the the wishes of the entire community, as there is some disagreement as to how the funds should be spent. Who should get the final say? Again, based on autonomy it is important to defer to the community. Some questions to consider:

How would they like to deal with the disagreement?

Is it your responsiblity to facilitate an agreement? Should you be involved in the dialogue?

3. Ethics of Care

Ethics of care talks about how you should consider what could have a positive impact on the whole community before making any decisions. In this case, clearly the whole community was not consulted; the need for a tractor was only felt by some members of the community. In fact, the decision to buy the tractor had a negative impact on some members of the community that felt insulted, and threatened traditional practices. Some questions to consider:

How could purchasing the truck make the community more vulnerable to loss of traditions?

Have your actions made a negative impact on the social structure of the community?

Jorgenson, S. R. (2009). Using International Volunteer Experiences to Educate University Students for Global Citizenship. Educational Policy Studies. Edmonton, University of Alberta. Master of Education in Theoretical, Cultural and International Studies in Education.